


His Father's Heart

by themillenialfalcon (abunchofmellarky)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/M, Family Angst, Family Drama, Han x Leia, POV Leia Organa, Rated M for language, Reylo - Freeform, Sorry guys, ben leaves with rey after they kill snoke, post episode viii au, this is all written in leia's pov so there's not gonna be any smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-20 17:17:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18997060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abunchofmellarky/pseuds/themillenialfalcon
Summary: Or: Five Times Leia Organa Recognized Her Husband’s Heart in Ben SoloGeneral Leia Organa didn’t often let herself think of her late husband.  His memory was too painful, and the feelings surrounding his death were far too complicated – made even more so by her only son’s recent defection from The First Order. Yet, sometimes, it was impossible to ignore his memory. His memory seemed to be alive and well, walking among them in the form of their son.  Whether or not their son chose to see it himself was another story.An AU fic in which Ben Solo chose to leave with Rey at the end of The Last Jedi.





	His Father's Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! I have been absolutely dying to write something lately, and due to a few changes in my life recently I finally have time to get at it again. 
> 
> I've always been a bit disappointed with the lack of Solo Family content taking place in the canon universe - so I thought I would try to fix it myself. 
> 
> As the summary states this is a fic that set after The Last Jedi in a universe where Ben chose to leave with Rey. It starts several months after the events on The Supremacy and in an effort to save time I haven't gotten into the nitty gritty details of Ben's defection and the aftermath. Suffice to say it was very dramatic and took an extremely long time to build up trust. When we start with the first chapter of this fic, people are just starting to come around to the idea of accepting Ben into their ranks - but they are still wary of him. 
> 
> Other than that, I think the fic is pretty self explanatory.

One: Good Luck Charm

General Leia Organa knew there was a time in her past when a loud and ruckus celebration would have thrilled her. In fact, she still considered the evening she spent dancing, drinking, laughing, and making love to her future husband on the moon of Endor one of the greatest nights of her life. There were only a handful of moments after that night that brought her that much unbridled joy: her wedding, her election, buying her home with Han on Hanna City, Ben’s birth. Now, however, a loud and ruckus celebration like the one she currently found herself an unwitting participant in failed to bring her the same sense of joy.  

She had plenty to be joyful about, there was no denying. The intel Ben had provided about one of The First Order’s primary weapons manufacturers on Geonosis had been invaluable. They’d managed to reduce the repurposed factories to dust, cutting off an endless supply of arms from blasters to neutron bombs and freeing thousands of slaves in the process. It was a small victory in the grand scheme of things, but one that would deal yet another crushing blow to the already floundering First Order. And she had her son to thank for it.

Yes, there was plenty for Leia to celebrate this evening, and she was truly happy. She was feeling the tides of war turning evermore in their favor. She was optimistic about the future of their cause and of the galaxy. She was grateful that those she cared for most of all had survived yet another grueling and dangerous battle. 

She was also old.

She was old and feeling every bit of it. She wasn’t far off from her fifty-fifth Life Day, and with every passing night it was becoming clearer to her that she could not keep up with the young people under her command anymore. And, frankly, she didn’t want to.

Every celebration seemed to grow louder and rowdier to her. The drunks seemed to grow drunker. And the music… the music seemed to become more and more akin to… noise. Just noise. In her mind, it was more headache inducing than energizing, and the way that several of the young people under her command were dancing to it would have given her mother apoplexy. She wasn’t far off herself.

Yes, Leia was getting too old for this. And while she was happy to give her troops a well deserved night to celebrate and boost morale, she didn’t think that she was going to last very long into the evening. Perhaps a few more glasses of the Dulathian wine that Connix had gifted her upon returning from her most recent leave, and then she would retire to her quarters. For now, she would continue to amuse herself for a little while longer. She would remain in her isolated booth and just watch… watch and reminisce.

It didn’t help matters that the people she most longed to celebrate with were nowhere in sight. Chewie and Lando were chasing down some intel in the Outer Rim with the help of Finn and Rose. Amilyn was gone. Her husband was gone. And her brother… well her relationship with her brother remained complicated. And as long as Ben was near, her relationship with her brother remained non-existent. Ben was not ready to invite Luke Skywalker back into his life, and Leia was not going to force him. She wasn’t entirely sure she was ready either if she was being honest with herself.

What she would have liked more than anything was for her son to cross over from the other side of the room and take a seat next to her. Even for just a moment. Even without uttering a single word. If he would just sit next to her – just be near her for one moment, she might feel like this evening was truly worth celebrating. For so many years she had longed for him to return to the light. And now that had… well it had shown her that returning to the light was only the first of many hard and grueling steps toward truly getting her son back.

She longed for him to _need_ her again – to need her like he had when he was a little boy and would fall and scrape a knee. But he didn’t. He didn’t even seem to _want_ her very much these days. Lando had tried to comfort her by reminding her that it was pretty normal for twenty-nine-year-old men not to want their mothers hanging around them all the time… but Leia knew it was more than that. It was so much more than that.

Her eyes kept landing on him as the night progressed, and the more she watched him, the more obvious it became that he wasn’t much in the mood for a celebration either.

He was lurking – a habit that she’d long wished to break him of. Even when he was young he had a habit of lurking at parties. He would stand off to the sides, leaning against a doorway or a column and watch people. Rationally, she knew that this was a symptom of a certain level of social anxiety and awkwardness. He would tell her as much when she would lecture him about it. But he was just so…huge. No matter how she tried, she’d never been able to get across to him that his size didn’t make his lack of participation look awkward… it made him look imposing.

His imposing stature combined with his intense gaze and the Corellian whiskey he held in his hand might come off as intimidating to others around him. But to Leia, the sight of him swishing the tumbler of amber liquid in his hand and bringing it to his lips for a small sip sent an entirely different emotion coursing through her. A pang of sadness shot through Leia’s heart and sent her mind thirty years in the past.

_“Hey, Your Worshipfulness, you sure I can’t get you somethin’ to drink? You’re always much more agreeable when you’ve had a few, ya know.”_

The memory of his teasing grin brought a rush of tears to her eyes, but she didn’t allow them to fall. She’d been through so many hardships in the months following Ben’s defection from The First Order. There was so much distrust. So much anger. So much fighting. But the most personal and painful struggle of all had been how much Ben reminded her of Han in the smallest ways – ways that he could never really understand.

But she couldn’t think about Han now – not in public, not with so much up in the air about Ben and his place in The Resistance and in her life. It was a can of worms that remained tightly closed, one that neither one of them were ready to open.

She decided, instead, to distract herself and follow Ben’s intense line of vision to its focus. Her eyes landed on the target, and she found, perhaps unsurprisingly in retrospect, that the object of his rapt attention was a certain brown haired young Jedi.

Rey looked pretty this evening – not that that was entirely surprising. Rey was a pretty girl. Even when she was covered in layers of dirt, sand, and sweat she still managed to look pretty. But tonight, it seemed that she’d decided to arrive looking even prettier than usual.

She’d forgone her usual desert robes for a cleaner and more nondescript pair of black leggings and an emerald green tunic. Her hair was woven into a simple side swept braid that started at the top of the left side of her head and wrapped around in a diagonal line across the back of her scalp to land over her right shoulder. Kaydel must have taught her how to do it. Leia recalled seeing a similar braid in the blonde girl’s hair just last week. From a distance, it looked to Leia as though Rey may have thrown on some mascara and a bit of lip gloss as well, but she couldn’t be entirely sure. One thing for certain was that Rey was making an effort to impress someone- make up or not.

She’d been sitting at a table full of loud and boisterous pilots for several minutes. Poe Dameron, Yolo Tiff, and Jessika Pava had staked claim to the table almost an hour ago. They’d sent Snap off to find something, and Rey had joined them almost instantly. Without Finn and Rose here, they were the only people she really knew other than herself and… well… Ben of course. But Leia didn’t know the status of Rey’s relationship with her son, and she didn’t think it appropriate to ask. Judging by the intense glare that Ben was sending Poe Dameron over his tumbler of whiskey, she had reason to suspect it could be classified as…complicated. 

Poe, completely oblivious to Ben’s disdain, was regaling his group of friends with a dirty and scandalous story that would send his poor mother rolling in her grave. Tiff seemed utterly amused. Jessika and Rey, however, were far more tempered in their reaction. Thankfully, before Poe could dig himself an even larger grave, Snap had returned from his mission seemingly successful.

“Poe!” he yelled over the crowd. He sent a small object flying through the air and Poe caught it with ease. “Found ‘em!”

“Alright!” Poe answered as he started unboxing the package. The entire table sat at attention, scooting their chairs closer to the table and setting their drinks down. Rey looked around, confused by the sudden change of atmosphere among them.

“Found what?” she asked.

“Sabacc deck,” Poe answered. He split the deck in two and started shuffling as Snap took a seat beside him and started doling out stacks of chips. He placed three piles in front of Rey and she gazed at them as if he’d set a live snake in front of her.

“Wanna play?” he asked. “All we need is a few more drinks before Dameron just starts giving his money away.”

Poe glowered at Snap and started dealing without waiting for Rey to answer. Leia watched as one card landed in front of her and she looked around in a miniature panic. By the time Poe made it around the table and the second card landed in front of her, Rey decided to speak up.

“Oh… um… I don’t…. I don’t know how to play.”

Poe paused momentarily in his dealing and the entire table turned heads to look over at the young girl. Leia immediately felt a sense of protectiveness over her. Rey, as powerful and wise as she was at such a young age, was still woefully inexperienced when it came to social customs and practices. Of course she wouldn’t have realized that taking a seat at a round table with the Black Squadron was as good as a buy in. She only hoped that Poe would remember that.

“Oh…” Poe said. “I’m sorry. I just assumed….well we can teach you if you want. Just uh… do a few practice rounds.”

No one at the table said a word. Tiff shifted eyes between Rey and Poe. Snap very audibly sighed, his tact disappearing with every sip of beer he took. And Jessika offered Rey a tight smile, wanting to be kind but at the same time showing her reluctance to agree to spend her evening walking Rey through the basics of a game she played like a pro. Anyone else may have taken the offer at face value, but Leia, being sensitive in The Force herself, knew that Rey would immediately feel the mood projecting off every person at the table.

“I don’t want to slow down the game,” Rey said, dismissing herself. When she received absolutely no protest from any of them, Leia could feel a slight sense of disappointment rolling off of her. She hoped that Rey hadn’t made an effort to doll herself up for Poe this evening, and if she had she’d have to remind herself to give him a sound kick in the ass in the morning.

“Well if you’re sure,” Poe said. He reached out an arm to grab the two cards that he’d dealt to Rey and reshuffle them into the deck, but his movement was suddenly frozen by the sound of a deep and loud interjection from the other side of the room.

“I’ll play.”

Everyone’s slowly turned in the direction of the voice. The mood quickly shifted from one of relief to immediate tension as Ben made his way slowly over to the table. They all watched him, mesmerized, as he approached – all but Tiff who immediately broke any chance of potential eye contact with her son. He’d suddenly found the stack of chips that Snap had set in front of him utterly fascinating.

Yet, as amusing as it was to see the cocky group of her best pilots set so easily on edge by the mere suggestion that Ben would play a simple round of Sabacc with them, Leia herself had to admit that she almost had a stroke when she saw her son start to stalk over to Rey’s seat at the table. Never in a million years did she think that he would agree to spending a single voluntary second in the presence of Poe Dameron. Yet here he was, sliding up to Poe’s group of friends, intent on joining them, and taking a sip from his whiskey as he went. This development was either very good…or very _very_ bad.  

“What?” Poe asked, clearing his throat. His hands were still hovering over the cards that were currently sitting in front of Rey and he craned his neck upward to make eye contact with the newest member of their game.

“I’ll play her hand,” Ben answered. Rey pushed her chair back and stood up. She offered it to him, and Ben turned the corners of his lips up into an expression that was approaching a smile as she made eye contact with him.

“Right… Um… Great. Sure. Yeah. Okay,” Poe rambled as he sat back down in his chair. Everyone else at the table was deadly silent. They stared at Ben with uneasiness and trepidation. Leia was, yet again, caught between a maternal instinct to defend her son and the reality that she understood completely why so many of the people in her ranks were so uncomfortable around him – even after all the help he’d given The Resistance in the last few months.

“Just… Um... No Force stuff, ya know. It’s an unfair advantage to the rest of us.”  

“You were going to play with Rey,” Ben said, motioning to Rey who was standing awkwardly next to him.

“Right… Well, Rey… Ya know, she’s… It’s just-”

“I’m a lot of things, Dameron. But I’m not a fuckin’ cheater.”

“He won’t use the Force, Poe,” Rey said, grasping on to Ben’s forearm with both of her hands. She looked up at Ben quickly and communicated something to him with nothing but her eyes. “Will you?”

“’Course not,” Ben answered. “I even left my saber in my room. So, if I get pissed off I only have my blaster to lash out with.”

“He’s joking!” burst Rey almost before Ben even had a chance to finish his sentence.

“Or am I?” he posed, directing the question to Poe. Rey tightened her grasp on Ben’s forearm and tugged it down to get his attention.

“These are my friends,” she ground out, unamused.

“I’m joking.”

Rey locked eyes with Poe and after a few long seconds he nodded, relenting. It seemed that as unwilling as Poe had been to trust Ben, he at least trusted Rey to keep Ben in line. Her assurance was all he needed to reluctantly continue with the game.

Ben sat at the table, and before his butt hit the seat he picked up two of the chips that had been placed in front of Rey’s spot and threw them into the Sabacc pot. Then, he carefully turned his attention to the cards in front of him. He folded the corners up and peaked ever so quickly at them before leaving them face down on the table. His face remained neutral and uninterested.

After a couple of seconds, Rey moved to walk away from the table, but Ben caught her instantly. This time, his hand landed on her forearm, far more gently than her grip had been. She turned back to face him and looked down at him, confused as to why he’d kept her there.

“Stay,” he said. His fingers loosened around her arm and trailed down to her hand where they brushed against her fingertips and wrapped around them for a moment. Leia could almost feel the girl’s heart racing in her own body. And as Ben let go of her hand, she kept it in hanging in the same spot, staring at it like it was now a foreign part of herself. 

“What?” Rey asked.

“Pull up a chair,” Ben replied. He nodded a few feet over where an empty chair sat in the middle of the room. “Watch. I’ll explain while we play.”

Rey did exactly that. She grabbed the unclaimed chair and pulled it close to Ben, close enough that Jessika, sitting next to them, barely had to move at all to accommodate her. It was a little closer than Leia’s nerves wanted it to be. And as she watched Ben’s hand reach out under the table and land on Rey’s thigh, she realized that her worries that Rey had gotten spiffied up to impress Poe had been completely unfounded. Now she was reckoning with an entirely different set of worries.

“So, there are seventy-six cards with sixty split into four suits, and then there’s two sets of specialty-”

“I’ve seen a deck before,” Rey interrupted sharply. “I’ve just never played.”

“Right. Sorry.” Ben cleared his throat and gestured to the pot of chips at the center of the table. “So… the first thing you do is pay into the sabacc pot at the beginning of each round. You’re supposed to do it before the cards are dealt. But… you didn’t know that.”

“Sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Ben insisted. “The goal is to get a hand totaling as close to twenty-three or negative twenty-three as possible without going over. The most important thing is to not go over. Cause then you bomb out and that’s…. that’s bad. It’ll cost you.”

“You hear that, Dameron?” Jessika asked her voice cutting through the chatter at the table. “Don’t bomb out. That’s a new strategy for you to try. I’m in for ten.”

Jessika threw two chips into the hand pot and Rey turned to look at Ben, silently asking him to explain what was happening. He continued outlining the basic rules of the game for her. He explained the betting round, the difference between the sabacc pot and the hand pot, the trading round, and the dice round. Rey followed along with ease, only getting slightly confused when the subject of a sabacc shift came up. 

“You’ll understand it more when it happens. It sounds more confusing than it is,” Ben assured as he threw two of his own chips into the pot. “Call.”

Ben’s call was followed in turn by Snap and Tiff, and when it came upon Poe’s turn to bet he shot a cocky glance over to Jessika seated on his left. “I’ll raise you ten.”

“You go right ahead and throw your money away. I got my eyes on a new pair of boots,” Jessica replied. “Looks like it’s taking even fewer drinks these days, Wexley.” She threw her cards on the table and sat back, locking eyes with Poe and crossing her arms over her chest. “I’ll trade one.”

As amusing as it always was to watch Jessika’s never ending attempts to tear Poe down a few pegs, Leia couldn’t help but find her focus drifting to Ben and Rey. As soon as he threw down his bet, he had leaned over to her. He flashed her a glance at his cards and pressed his lips against her ear as he no doubt started to whisper his strategy to her. He pointed to the card on the right, and whispered something else. Rey nodded.

_“Okay, Benny, what’s this plus this?” Han asked pointing to the two cards in front of him._

_“Um…it’s-"_

_“Ah!” Han interrupted, taking a moment to rapidly bounce the six-year-old on his knee and send him in a fit of giggles. “Whisper.”_

_Ben stretched up and wrapped his two small hands around Han’s ear. He leaned in, and in a moment of pure childlike excitement delivered the answer to Han in a volume that couldn’t be classified as a whisper by any stretch of the imagination._

_“Seven!” Lando and Wedge both broke out into a laugh. Luke, having a little more experience being around Ben and knowing he hated being “laughed at” managed to swallow a grin. Han flinched, both from the volume of the shout that had been aimed directly at his eardrum and the exposure of his less than stellar hand._

_“Yeah, that’s right,” Han grumbled. “Good job, kiddo.”_

_“Yeah, good job, Starfighter,” Lando said with a smirk. He threw some chips into the handpot, doubling Han’s bet in the process. “This is gonna be a really fun game.”_

_Ben smiled widely at his Uncle Lando. The amused sarcasm that had been aimed at his father went completely over his young and innocent head. He twisted his neck around and grinned at Han while Han glared daggers at his oldest friend. Leia, sensing a moment of tension stirring, decided it was probably time to act._

_“Okay, as fun as this this game is turning out to be, I’m afraid to say that it’s past someone’s bedtime,” Leia said, lifting herself from her seat and moving to grab Ben from Han’s lap._

_“No!” Ben cried. “I’m not tired! I wanna stay and play with Dad..”_

_“Sabacc is for grown-ups, Ben. There will be plenty of time to play when you’re older. Let’s go and brush your teeth.”_

_“Aw, come on, Leia. Let him stay,” Han said. Leia paused, looking with shock at her husband as he continued to bounce Ben on his knee. “He’s never gonna play if he doesn’t learn how.”_

_“Okay…” she relented. Confusion was dripping from her tone. She’d been certain that she was doing Han a favor by offering to take Ben to bed for the night. “Are you sure?”_

_“Yeah,” Han answered, smiling at her while ruffling Ben’s hair. “You can’t take away my good luck charm. How else am I gonna win?”_

_“Yeah, I’m Dad’s good luck charm, Mommy. He can’t play without me.”_

_“Oh, well, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. If you insist…” she said with a smile. She sat back down and took a long sip of her wine. A sudden warmth spread throughout her body and she had a feeling it was due to something more than just the alcohol. Han glanced over at her and winked._

_“Okay, so whaddya think I should do about this hand, huh?” Han asked, leaning in conspiratorially to his son._

_“Um… I think… you should… um… you should um…get a new one.”_

_“Get a new card?” Han prompted, gently._

_“Uh-huh. Yeah.”_

_“Should I trade one, or add one?”_

_“Um… I think you should keep these ones. And um… add one.”_

_“Yeah?” Han asked. Ben nodded emphatically. “Yeah, I think so too. Then we’re gonna work on somethin’ called bluffin’. Kay, kiddo?”_

“What would you do?”

The sound of Ben’s deep voice snapped Leia out of her memory. While she was distracted the game seemed to have advanced a few rounds. The hand pot had been built up to a pretty considerable amount and Snap had already popped open another bottle of beer.

Ben, though, was still leaning closely over Rey. His attention was focused completely on her, but he’d dropped the whisper at this point. Apparently, he was confident enough in his hand not to worry about the others at the table being privy to his strategy. Or at least that’s what he wanted them to think.

“Me?” Rey asked.

“Yeah,” Ben said.

“I mean... you should probably stand?”

“Yeah. I think so too,” Ben replied. He set his cards down on the table without picking up another.

“Same,” Snap followed.

Ben leaned over to Rey once again to whisper something in her ear, something that didn’t seem to be entirely related to the game based on Rey’s subtle laugh and the quick glance she shot in Poe’s direction. She leaned forward and whispered something in Ben’s ear in response. And, Leia… well Leia felt the all too familiar mix of optimism and dread pooling in her stomach that always seemed to pop up when she watched Ben and Rey interact with each other. The fact that his hand was gliding further up her thigh wasn’t helping matters either.

 “I think I’m gonna call this one,” Tiff said, confidently. “Twenty-one.”

“I got a fuckin’ lousy fifteen,” Poe said, slapping his cards on the table.

“Twenty.”

“Negative eighteen.”

Tiff laughed with glee and was already bending over to collect the hand pot, when Poe’s voice interrupted the ghastly display of flirting that was taking place across from him. Thankfully, Leia wasn’t the only one feeling slightly uneasy about the direction the night was taking in regards to Rey and Ben.

“Whaddya got, Solo?” he asked.

“What?” Ben asked, his head snapping up from his conversation with Rey and looking to Poe with minor confusion. “Are you talking to me?”

Leia’s heart was about to beat out of her chest. She could feel the waves of emotion rolling off of Ben more intensely than she had in such a long time. He was caught completely off guard. No one ever called him Solo. He was always just Ben – Ben or a handful of other pet names he’d been given as a young child. Ben or… well she refused to let that name even enter her mind. Solo, though, well he’d never gone just by Solo in his entire life. It was a designation that was assigned exclusively to Han.

Ben was overcome briefly with confusion as to what was being asked. Sadness soon followed at the unwelcome reminder of his father – then anger. Anger at Poe. Anger at himself. And then he finally landed on despair. It was such a deep despair that Leia thought it might actually swallow her whole. And she was feeling it second hand.

“You’re the only Solo at this table, aren’t you?”

“Well…Yeah. It’s just… no one’s ever really called me that before.”

“It is your name isn’t it?” Poe asked, harshly. “Or would you prefer Re-”

“Poe,” Rey interjected. Her hand drifted up to Ben’s back. She wrapped it around Ben’s shoulder and squeezed. She could feel it too, Leia was sure of it. Ben merely cleared his throat.

“Solo is fine,” he answered curtly. He looked down at his cards and tossed them in front of him face up. “Twenty-two.”

“Sithspit!” Tiff cursed as the rest of the table laughed at his misfortune. He slumped back in his chair, leaving the pot behind. “You gotta be kriffin’ kidding me. Beginners luck! He’s got the newbie helping him. Her luck’s wearing off on ‘im.”  

“Calm down, Tiff. It’s one round for Force sake,” Jessika admonished. “The pot’s yours, Solo.”

_Solo_

It took every bit of strength that she could muster for Leia not to run over to him that instant and wrap her arms around his shoulders in a bone crushing hug. She wanted to tell him that it was okay to go by that name. That is was his name. That his father would have wanted him to go by that name. That his father would have forgiven him. 

But she couldn’t. She knew that it wouldn’t be welcome. She also knew that she wasn’t ready to have that conversation. And she knew that in the darkest reaches of her soul… there was still a part of her that hadn’t entirely forgiven him either.

Even though she wanted to so desperately.

She wasn’t ready to have that conversation. She didn’t know if she had enough strength to get through that conversation while she still had a war to fight.

She wiped a tear from her eye before it had the chance to fall down her cheek and then stood up from her seat and made her way over to the Sabacc table. She reached under her tunic and pulled out a chain that she kept around her neck at all times, pressing it into her palm. She may not have the strength to have this conversation right now – but she did have the strength to make one small gesture.

By the time she arrived at the table, Poe had collected the cards and was reshuffling the deck. Everyone else was tossing their buy-ins into the Sabacc pot. Ben was still whispering into Rey's ear.

“General,” Poe greeted. “Do you want me to deal you in?”

Leia scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous, Dameron. My Sabacc playing days are long behind me. I just came over here to congratulate you all on a successful mission and to tell you that I’ll be retiring for the night.”

“Thank you, General,” Jessica replied, graciously. Her thanks were quickly parroted by everyone at the table excluding Ben who was suddenly immersed in his drink.  

“Ben,” Leia started.

“What?” he asked gruffly, prompting everyone around them to bristle with discomfort. “Thanks? I guess. Is that all?”

“Your gratitude leaves me speechless, but no,” Leia replied. “I actually wanted to give you something.”

She extended her balled up fist to him and he looked up at her in confusion. She sighed and sent him a sharp look. Ben sighed. He turned his palm over to accept whatever she was offering him, and Leia dropped the chain into his hand. She let go of the two small golden cubes at the last second and they fell into his large outstretched palm. Once they landed, he sucked in a deep breath of air.

“For luck,” she said, turning on her heel to leave before he had a chance to protest. She ran her fingers across his shoulder blades in a discreet but affectionate gesture as she turned. As she walked away, she sent him a silent declaration of love through The Force. He didn’t respond, but she didn’t need him too. Not right now. She knew.

She just kept walking away, listening to the game carry on as she left them behind to find some peace and quiet in her solitude.

“Alright, Solo. Something’s gotta give. You don’t get to keep a pair of lucky gold dice and have newbie’s beginner’s luck rubbing off on you too.”

“I don’t think luck is what we gotta worry about her rubbin’ off on him tonight, Tiff,” Snap quipped.

“Oi!” Rey yelled. She reached into her glass and started chucking ice cubes at Snap. “Don’t be disgusting!”

“Don’t worry about it, Rey,” Jessika soothed. “He’s just jealous because he hasn’t gotten laid since Ovanis.”

“Deal me in, Poe,” Rey said. “I think I’m ready to try my own luck for myself.”

**Author's Note:**

> See top for more notes. I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a comment below.


End file.
